Wanna work in games? NowGamer is here to help with our multi-part guide to getting your perfect job…

Part One: Art

Copyright: Goran Bukvic, www.crazybrush.com

Concept Artist
Fancy creating artwork for your favourite videogame franchise?

The role of the concept artist is a highly specialised yet highly creative job that involves working closely with the project’s art director to visualise their ideas and to develop quick sketches into finished renderings. You need traditional art skills, as well as an understanding of various other styles. Our experts tell us more:

Maxime Desmettre
Maxime works for Ubisoft Montreal. He’s created images for the latest Prince Of Persia game and is currently working on Assassin’s Creed II.

Copyright: Ubisoft

Goran Bukvic
Goran has worked in concept art for about eight years. He runs his own company called Crazy Brush. His clients include Electronic Arts, Propaganda Games, Disney Interactive and Pandemic Studios.

What software skills will I need?
Goran: The more you know Photoshop, the better. It’s an incredible tool that continues to impress me even after working with it for many years and getting to know it fairly well.

Any tips for putting together a portfolio?
Maxime: A good portfolio in concept art is a simple one. Don’t put too much in, and keep a coherent level of quality – get rid of unattractive images, even if you’re attached to them.

What’s a good way to get work experience?
Goran: Persistence. There are many ways to get your foot through the door. Internship is one of them, but even for that you have to show lots of potential. In general, your portfolio has to be much, much better than the stuff you’ll be working on at your first job. Be resourceful. Use the internet to find out who’s hiring and who’s the right person to send your portfolio to.

Is it best to go freelance, or work in-house?
Maxime: Personally, I would work in-house. I think this is the best work environment to learn among experienced people, see what they do on the same tasks, get challenged every day, and gather lots of contacts for a potential freelance career.
Goran: In the beginning it is probably a better idea to work in-house. It’s good to have a solid perspective on all the different aspects of production so that, later on, if you decide you want to go freelance, you will know exactly how your work will be used. It’s also great to be surrounded by other creatives and be mentored and inspired. In terms of finding work, freelance could be a little tricky because studios like to keep their projects as secretive as possible while in production. Exchanging information and art assets over the internet increases the risk of something leaking out, so they might prefer to have you work in-house.

What’s the starting salary likely to be?
Maxime: Even to start with the salary will vary a lot depending on the field you’re applying for (movie versus game, for example). Moreover, the salary difference between countries can be significant too, which makes it difficult to give an exact figure. However, concept artists usually get a decent wage – in videogames it’s better than level or texture artists with the same level of experience – and it seems to be harder to find people in this field of expertise.

Further reading: www.conceptart.org

Animator
Giving games some movement

An animator’s job is to give a game life. They’ll work on cut-scenes, put the breeze in the trees and give the vehicles their horsepower. Chris Hale reveals what skills you need to be an animator.

… continued

Interview tips from Media Molecule

• Be yourself
• Be polite and never, ever swear
• Be enthusiastic (but not too enthusiastic!)
• Ask lots of questions (like company benefits, working conditions and so on)
• Know how much you want to be paid (it’s a good idea to research current industry wages)
• Have a brief, but informative CV
• Research the company you want to work for, and if you know your interviewer then Google them!
• Be knowledgeable about games and gaming terms
• Have examples of your work (this can be on a portable hard drive, printouts, laptop on standby, and so on)
• Dress smart, but not too smart (making games is a serious business, but it’s not a bank)